PLANS by Melksham Town Council to consult Dunch Lane residents about traffic management on the lane have been paused.
The council was planning to survey residents on their thoughts about ongoing issues including parking on the lane and the suggestion that the rail bridge – located on Dunch Lane between the A350 and where Dunch Lane meets Southbrook Road – be closed or made available only to one-way traffic.
However, because of the upcoming elections in May, and the new application to build 170 houses on land off Beanacre Road, north of Dunch Lane which is expected to be submitted after a public consultation, councillors have decided to postpone their plans.
At a town council meeting last week, cllr Adrienne Westbrook said the new housing development, if approved, would have changed the Dunch Lane situation “dramatically”.
Councillors agreed to defer plans for the survey until after the planning application has been decided by Wiltshire Council.
At the meeting, councillors also acknowledged correspondence from Wiltshire Council’s area engineer for highways West Wiltshire, Andrew Cadwallader, who has raised “safety concerns” about two-way traffic using the lane between the A350 and where Dunch Lane meets Southbrook Road due to it being “narrow” and the erosion of verges.
In a letter to the town council, he says, “The council as the local highway authority is only responsible for the carriageway surface over the rail bridge and either side of it, the embankments are owned and maintained by Network Rail. There is a risk of a car leaving the carriageway and falling down the embankment. The council could carry out work to reinstate the verges however, this will only lead to vehicles venturing further off of the public highway, closer to the edge of the embankment.
“There has already been an incident where a vehicle has left the carriageway and collided with the bridge, causing debris to be strewn over the track.
“Because of the presence of field accesses on the west side of the rail bridge, it makes prohibition orders covering the whole lane difficult. However, I would like to see a one-way order from the rail bridge to the A350. The direction of travel can be decided by the residents as both have pros and cons.
“Only allowing east-bound traffic would stop vehicles turning into the lane from A350 and so ensure the A350 is kept free flowing although this could encourage rat running, as vehicles would not be restricted by a traffic controlled junction onto A350.
“Whereas only allowing west-bound traffic deters rat running, but vehicles turning right off of the A350 do cause hold ups on the A350.
“Because of the much safer traffic-controlled accesses onto the A350 at the subway, there is an argument to close the lane from the rail bridge to the A350 to vehicle traffic and change its use to a cycle path. However, this may be too contentious for residents.”
